Pranab seeks NRI money for growth

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Kochi: President Pranab Mukherjee has urged the Indian Diaspora to be active partners in helping the country reverse the short-term deceleration in economic growth.
Addressing the valedictory session of the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas here on Wednesday, the President said the nation’s growth rate fell to 5.4 per cent in the first half of this fiscal.
The rapid economic growth after 2003-04 was accompanied by a rise in the investment rate. This however declined after reaching its higher level in 2007-08, he said.
“Thus, a revival of the high investment rate is a must for the economy to regain its eight per cent plus growth level.
“You all are in a position to help the nation in the process by investing in companies here and establishing new ventures,” Pranab told the more than 2,300 delegates.“You may, therefore, also like to look at the opportunity that India offers in these fields, and take advantage of the high yield that you are likely to get by investing in the Indian capital markets,” the President said.
The theme for the PBD was ‘Engaging Diaspora: The Indian Growth Story’ and the nation needed to encourage further participation by the diaspora to give additional impetus to the country’s growth story, Pranab said.
CM launches first NRI incubator  
Chief minister Oommen Chandy on Wednesday inaugurated India’s first Technology Business In-cubator (TBI) for NRI startups, set up at Info-park here. The launch function was held at the venue of the Pravasi Bha-ratiya Divas 2013 meet.
The department of science & technology of the Union government has contributed `2.5 crore for the NRI-TBI, set up under the PPP model with the support of Technopark-TBI, NORKA department & Infopark-Kochi. NRK businessman Yousufali M.A. will put in an equal amount.
Ravi Pillai, another NRK businessman, is the joint promoter for the Kollam incubator. The private partner for Cyberpark incubator will be finalised soon. The present 2,500 square facility will be upgraded to 10,000 sqft by April. Similar incubators will be launched at Infopark Kollam and Cyberpark, Kozhikode as well by April.
“Though the state has 25 lakh NRIs, not many have come forward to start enterprises in the state. Therefore, a dedicated TBI focused solely on NRIs is the light at the end of this tunnel,” Mr Chandy said.
“We are planning a plug and play office space, mentors and consultants from various fields and much more to make starting a business easier. More value additions like the green channel facilitation, remotely accessible office, managed talent pool etc to make it a perfect place to establish an NRI venture,” said Dr. K C Chandrashekharan Nair, MD, Technopark-TBI.
Kochi meet a bigger success
It was not just a record in the number of delegates for the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas that concluded here on Wednesday, but also in the more than 700 meetings held between non-resident Indians and various state governments and business facilitating agencies.
“If it were 500 meetings at the last PBD at Jaipur, the Kochi meet has been a bigger success as the enquiries for investment opportunities and finding knowledge partners were many,” said Sujata Sudar-shan, chief executive officer of the Overseas Indian Facilitation Centre.
From Trinidad Tobago and Canada to Malaysia and Singapore, it was a busy schedule of business-to-business meetings over the last three days. The OIFC is a public-private partnership between the ministry of overseas Ind-ian affairs and the Confe-deration of Indian Industry.
The centre had brought in banks, funding agencies and state governments to help direct interaction with those NRIs looking at business opportunities, she added. The delegates were guided to the respective organisations based on their demands. They were made familiar with procedures and regulations.
On the areas of interest, it was informantion technology-related and also looking at business and knowledge partners for investments here and also in their countries.
The centre would over the next few days take stock of the situation and help in getting back to those who came with business proposals, Sujata added.